Petron blazes way to 2nd PSL win, trips Sta. Lucia

Petron built an early lead in the fourth set as it drubbed Sta. Lucia, 27-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-14 to notch its second straight win in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.

American reinforcement Hillary Hurley and Mika Reyes combined in the Blaze Spikers’ 8-1 binge to pull away from a 5-all count en route to the fourth set romp in a big follow-up to their straight-set opening day triumph over Generika-Ayala.

Petron thus paced early frontrunners Foton (1-0) and Iriga City (1-0).

“Sta. Lucia is performing well. We saw that they really wanted to bounce back. We thank the Lord that we were able to survive even if, honestly speaking, this is not how we wanted us to play,” said Petron coach Shaq Delos Santos.

Former MVP and two-time champion Lindsay Stalzer erupted with 29 points on 28 hits and an ace, Hurley fired 25 attacks and a service ace for 27 markers while Reyes chipped in 11 points anchored on three blocks.

After taking the first two sets in contrasting fashions, Petron played catch-up in the third after blowing an early three-point lead but fell short in their comeback as the Lady Realtors held their fort at the net on back-toback blocks by Canada national team’s Marisa Field.

But the Blaze Spikers came out firing early in the fourth behind Hurley and Reyes to break away before Stalzer took over down the stretch to make it an 11-point set victory.

Cignal HD averted a fourth set fold up as it thumped Generika-Ayala, 25-16, 25-21, 25-27, 25-21 to even its card to 1-1.

Rachel Daquis, Australian Beth Carey and Jovelyn Gonzaga came to the Spikers’ rescue at endgame to salvage the match after nearly blowing a commanding 18-10 lead in the fourth.

The Lifesavers clawed their way and came within one, 21-22, before the trio of Daquis, Carey and Gonzaga shut them down and sent them to their second loss in three matches.